You can't call Jeremy Corbyn unpopular and unelectable while fighting to keep him off a ballot because he's too popular

When Angela Eagle launched her campaign she made much of the fact that these are 'dark days for Labour'. What she failed to mention was that the party’s membership is now at its highest point in decades, and is rising

• Michael Chessum 

This week, the Labour Party begins perhaps the most important and symbolic leadership election in its history – and it didn’t start well. The defining image of the week so far must be Angela Eagle,standing forlornly on stage, a host of MPs cheering her on, calling questions from one journalist after another – who had all left the room to cover the revelation that Andrea Leadsom had pulled out of the Tory leadership race. As a friend of mine observed on social media: if a leadership election is announced and the BBC is not there to cover it, does it make a sound?

But the real farce will happen behind closed doors. Faced with a Labour Party membership that, if anything, looks like it will give Jeremy Corbyn an even bigger mandate than the 59.5 per cent he received nine months ago, some on Labour’s right wing are attempting to use procedural subterfuge to remove the Labour leader. For some clever operators on the right wing of the Labour Party, there is only one tactic that gives a prospect of victory: to keep Corbyn off the ballot. That’s how popular the leader really is.

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http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/calling-jeremy-corbyn-unelectable-while-fighting-tooth-and-nail-to-keep-him-off-a-ballot-makes-a7132276.html